


Change of Plans

by nerdofthenile



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Angels, Angst, Blood, Demons, Eventual Relationships, How Do I Tag, M/M, Mild Language, Needles, Nymphs - Freeform, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Pixies, Slow Burn, Thats a new one huh?, Vampire Self Starvation, Vampires, Werewolves, Witches, not bad needles just doctor needles
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-24
Updated: 2017-07-30
Packaged: 2018-11-04 05:27:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 11,559
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10984305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nerdofthenile/pseuds/nerdofthenile
Summary: Lance, a normal, totally cool high school football player, does not plan to be kidnapped by a bunch of people claiming to be a supernatural beings of immense power and knowledge. This does not equal nor is limited to a bossy witch with her humanoid familiar, a soccer mom angel, a hungry pixie, a sassy forest nymph, and an angsty vampire.But when a demon empire comes knocking down the barrier separating the mortal realms from the not-so-mortal, Lance might have to change his plans.{Discontinued as of right now}





	1. Prologue: Galra

**Author's Note:**

> Geez, this show killed me.  
> This is my first pic in this fandom, so I'm sorry if its really bad. Hopefully it will get better? These first two chapters are mostly prologue. 
> 
> I hope you enjoy!

“Emperor.”

The dark of the room ran from the approaching torch coming down the hallway. The figure at the end of the room was looking out of an arched window, although there wasn't much to look at. All there was beyond the glass was a vast plain of purple fire, flicking up into the air and performing a dance long forgotten by the living realm.

The figure turned to the holder of the torch, his eyes squinting and glowing in the pitch of the room. “What.”

“Emperor,” the messenger said, “we have news from one of the bases. Another ransack, resources were lost. Not too many fatalities, but a good portion of its sentries were broken beyond reasonable repair. But this time there is some concern--”

“You are avoiding something,” the Emperor said. “Do you dare keep things from me?”

The messenger visibly shivered. “No, Emperor Zarkon.”

Zarkon turned slowly back to the window, watching the flames lash out into air. “Which of the Paladins were present at this raid?”

The messenger gulped.

“The heiress to the Altean Society, sire,” he managed, “and one of her cohorts--”

“I said,” the Emperor spat so loudly the messenger might as well have jumped at least five feet into the air, “which of the Paladins.”

The messenger, now shaking so much his feet were slipping beneath him, stuttered, “just one, sire. The one once in our care, the one who escaped-- the unidentified one. The druids believe we know what he is now.”

Zarkon took pride in being an emotionless being. However, he couldn’t help but look surprised at the messenger, raising the skin where eyebrows would have been on his face just enough so that he looked surprised. 

“I didn’t stop you,” Zarkon said, “so I don’t know why you are stopping.”

The messenger replied, “So sorry, sir. Th-this is what we know.

“From the scene, one of the sentries had it’s magical feed going, so we could see what was going on. The druids were able to identify the Altean witch heiress, and her sidekick. The escaped Paladin was there, the one called--”

“The Champion,” Zarkon tapped one taloned finger on the side of his face, “I remember.”

“Yes,” the messenger sputtered, “that one. He was helping them. He was using our magic, like his curse said, but its a type we haven’t seen before.”

“What do you mean, haven’t seen?”

“Well,” the messenger lowered the torch a bit, his arm growing tired from holding it up, “It was more fluid, sire. More… wavery. Not as rich a color as our Galra magic. It looked tainted… tainted white.”

Zarkon stared. 

“White?”

“Yes, sire.”

Zarkon shook his head, not really believing what he was hearing. “White power?”

“Yes, sire.”

“White as in the power of an angel?” Zarkon’s voice boomed throughout the cavern of the room. 

The messenger jumped again. “Yes sire.”

Zarkon returned to looking out the window. The flames had risen, now scratching at the glass from above, almost wanting to get in. He traced his claw across the pane.

“An angel Paladin warrior,” he says, rolling every syllable off his tongue.

“Yes, sire.”

“And this is the one we believe to hold the spirit of the Black Lion.”

“Y-Yes, sire.”

“Impossible,” Zarkon muttered, “Angels haven’t interfered with the Galra Demons since the fall of the Altean Society.”

The messenger nodded solemnly. “That is what the druids said as well, sire. But we don’t have any other ideas as to what could have changed our magic.”

“The druids are wrong, then,” Zarkon glared down at him.

“I--” the messenger started, then realized that he probably shouldn’t say whatever he was about to. Smart man. “I will relate your message to them, sire.”

“See it done,” Zarkon paced to the chair hidden in the corner, ominous splatters of dark colors covering the legs. “Tell them that I want to be sure the Black Paladin is an angel. And if they are sure, to check again.”

The messenger quickly nodded, bowed, and made to scurry away. But before he could, the emperor called out. The messenger froze on the spot, still facing towards what he hoped was the exit in the dark. 

“If,” he added, “they are sure that this useless boy is an angel. Then tell them that they will not only capture this one first, but they will then kill him first as well.”

The messenger bowed once more in Zarkon’s direction. “Of course. Vrepit Sa, sire.”

He tried to leave again, but this just wasn’t his day.

Another messenger came through, torchless, only going by the other messengers light. He still managed to dash into the room and drop on his knees in front of Zarkon. 

“Sire,” he gasped, “Emperor. They have found traces of the Black Lion.”

Zarkon shot up from his chair faster than he had sat down in it. “What? Where?”  
“Bordering on the mortal realm,” the answer comes in short, raspy breaths, “It’s quinessence has been tracked and is being decoded by Haggar and the druids now, sire.”

Zarkon swept over to the two shaky messengers, one still on the floor, the other frozen in place. “Where on the mortal border.”

The newer messenger slowly looked up and dared to meet the eyes of the demon king. “Earth, sire.”

Zarkon was still as he contemplated. “Earth,” he mused. “Earth.”

The messengers exchanged confused looks. 

“Earth has quite the history,” Zarkon explained, allowing small mercy and maybe privilege to the two messengers, “It’s a mortal refuge for us greater beings, populated by those nasty mortal humans that love to beat the demon population back for centuries. The Galra demons have never deemed Earth worthy enough to conquer. But now….

“Now we may have to pay them a visit.”


	2. That One Market Incident

Lance thought of himself as an organized person.

He had everything planned out, pretty much to a T. There was not a lot that went wrong for him, he didn't let them go wrong. If something didn't go according to plan, he just adjusted or changed back. He was flexible like that. Smooth.

But if you had asked him if he had planned the whole supermarket incident, he would say he hadn't.

Initially, he had gone to the market to pick up ice. There was this huge party that weekend, the head honcho of the school was throwing it. Zack. Honestly, with a name like Zack, it was no surprise that he ran the place. And he was a senior too. Being invited to this party was an honor, especially for a mere junior football defenseman like Lance. And here he was, buying ice to bring to this shindig. There would be girls, and illegal underage drinks, and a shot at winning his way into Zack’s good wills, possibly into a good position for next years football team. And with that in the bag, the last year of high school would be a breeze.

Nice.

So there he was, looking along the frozen section for a good pack. Totally normal. After this he had to make it home to his parents, then he had practice for baseball, which was the sport he was currently doing. And then the party the next day. All smooth, all perfectly planned.

Lance heard a crash from the aisle over, followed by a shout and a lady’s shriek.

He didn't think much it, at first. Probably some idiot dropped a heavy bottle, or something, and had freaked a lady out. No biggie. Didn’t even faze him much, just made him look up with a small interest before he kept on looking for good ice. Was there such a thing as a type that didn’t melt that fast in beer…?

Another crash, this time followed by rapid footsteps. Now he looked up. Two of the supermarket employees were running towards the crash. What was happening, was some clutz just tripping over every stand they had? Jeez. Lance shrugged and finally decided on the pack he wanted. It weighed 10 pounds. Nothing he couldn’t carry home, in fact, he’d take two, just to be snazzy. 

He jolted when there was a crash in his aisle. 

Lance did not have a lot of time to turn around before something barreled into him with all the force and speed of a jetpack powered train. 

Being a football star above all else, Lance didn’t really register that he had hit his head against the hard tile until the pain caught up with his brain. He groaned out loud, eyes blinking wearily into nothing as his vision crept back. What in the world--

Oh. Hello. 

There was a boy leaning over him, arms on either side of his head. His skin was almost obscenely pale. His eyes were a murky navy blue and his hair was jet black with the nerdiest mullet ever. And he was staring down at Lance like he didn’t know what to do, sprawled on top of him. Well, Lance could help with that. 

“Hey, I am totally flattered,” he said, “but I don’t swing that way.”

The boy on top of him blinked once, twice, before squinting at him. And then spitting in his face. 

“Ew-- dude! Gross!” Lance clapped his hands to his face to try and get the saliva off of him, but he didn’t have much time to do that. Soon, he heard a distant, “That should be him!” coming from a bit away, a scratchy and persistent voice. 

The boy stared off into nothing for a moment before looking back at Lance. He muttered something along the lines of, “You have got to be kidding me” before bolting up. Lance would not have minded if he was not taken with the guy. 

“Hey, whoa, dude--” he tried to say, but the breath was knocked out of him as were his feet from beneath him. Holy cow, this guy could run. Was he on track? Because damn, he was fast. Lance could barely register the aisles he flew by, and by fly he meant fly. His feet were no longer touching the ground, instead just skitting along as this stranger dragged him by the arm out of the market. He was pretty sure his cheeks were puffed out by the wind like those cartoon characters in the cartoons. They were going so fast, he wasn't exactly sure if he was breathing or not.

The boy holding him fast (and going equally fast) eventually slowed down enough for Lance to realize they were out of the store now, and they were in the parking lot. The boy seemed determined to get across the lot. 

Lance began to get a bit scared.

“Hey, listen man,” he choked out from behind the mouthfuls of air whizzing past him, “let go and I won’t have to--”

“It’s been a rough day, ok? So let’s not talk and just get you where you need to be,” the boy grit out.  
“Rough day?” Lance shouted. “ ‘Rough day’ does not translate to ‘grab a kid and go’!”

“Then the next twenty four hours are gonna be a shock to you, because there’s a lot of grabbing and going in this business,” the boy answered. 

Business?

Now Lance had adrenaline pumping and a million thoughts going through a brain that was used to focusing on sports, school, and girls. What business? Was this a kidnapping? Was this guy going to tie him up in some white van and take him far away? What would they do then, would he be subject to lying there all day while these people walked around him and threatened him without really doing anything? Or worse, make him listen to something stupid, like bad punk rock? Or classical? Or… Or Justin Beiber?

That last one was a joke, Lance knew that no human being was that cruel. But he wasn’t going to take any chances. And besides, with the way this guy was running, there was a chance he wasn’t human. 

Lance, again, being the single-minded high schooler he was, did the only thing that a high schooler could do in a situation where they were being flung out of a supermarket by a complete stranger. He bit down on the wrist of his captor. Hard. 

The boy cried out like he hadn’t been expecting the one and only Lance McClain to fight back against him. Lance felt the boy's hand slip from its iron grip on his arm, and in those two seconds, he felt pretty victorious. Take that, weird fast guy who crashed into me at the supermarket! Teeth like razor fangs. Mess with Lance, you mess with his jaw.

Unfortunately, those moments only last so long. Next thing Lance knew, he was face flat with the floor, and by floor he meant pavement. Hard, solid, rock pavement. He already knew he had tough skin, playing football did that to you, but even he was no match for the enemy that pavement was. He could already feel blood sticking to his skin where the sediment had scratched his cheek, and if his head didn’t hurt before, it hurt now. Pretty sure one of his teeth were knocked a bit too, there was a distinct taste of copper on his tongue. He wasn’t surprised that of all the tackles he had experienced on the team, it was his own doing that got the most blood out of him. 

Lance had been in his own thoughts, and possibly disoriented enough from the pavement to his head, that he forgot about the boy, who was not fazed anymore by the bite Lance had given him. Lance, in a daze, felt himself be lifted up. The world spun. Everything swam for a bit, green and grey and blue mixing together until he felt himself get dumped onto a cool metal floor suspended a bit off of what he thought was the ground. 

Wait… was this actually a van?

Lance struggled to get up, but before he could, what felt like gloved hands pressed him over onto his belly. There were voices, but they were pretty muffled over the blood in his ears. Was this a concussion? He had no idea. All he knew was that his heart was racing and his mind was screaming at him to get out of here. 

But he couldn’t. The more Lance struggled, the harder the hands pressing down on his back pressed. If they thought they would be beating him by holding him down, though, they were wrong. He was Lance, for goodness sake, and he was going to get out of this. He was a football player, an MVP, and a future ruler of the school. No one could just--

Lance barely was able to register that there was a needle in his side before everything went black.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am always open to critique and requests!  
> Next few chapters will get the plot rolling more and get people talking. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for reading!


	3. Green Guy and Wing Dude

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance meets these two weirdos that he thinks shouldn't be in the kidnapping business.  
> He also loses his lunch.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this took so long, but here is Chapter 3! This is so funny to write, I've laughed through half of this. 
> 
> I've split this into two chapters, just for size's sake. The next chapter is full of exposition, background, and Allura, so I hope it'll be good. Also, this wasn't edited too well? So... yeah, sorry if its not completely up to par. 
> 
> Thank you all for all for reading, I hope you enjoy!
> 
> Have some flawless Pidge and some adorkable Hunk.

The first thing Lance did was scream. Very loudly.

 

“ **Where am I?”**

 

A voice answered, “AAaaaAAAAH, you said  _ human,  _ not  _ banshee!” _

 

Lance only barely comprehended that there were voices around him because at that point he was wildly swinging his arms around. You know, like a true football prodigy. 

 

“You can't take me!” Lance shrieked. “I have, like, two years of karate under my belt, you're messing with the wrong kid!”

 

“Karate? What is karate? Is it a sandwich?!”

 

“No, Hunk, it's a human martial art.”

 

“Oh.”

 

Lance had beat back the people previously looming over him, so he took the time to study his captors. Even though his head was throbbing and his mouth felt dry, his eyesight was only partially blurry. So not everything was just a blob of color.

 

There was a kid, a boy it looked like. Branches were intertwined on his head, and his eyes were so green, they looked like emeralds. Lance wasn't a fashion critic, but seriously, the canvas stuff the kids clothes were made of were not a pretty beige. The other guy was hefty, would have made a pretty good defenseman on the team. Minus the pointy ears, and the huge wings fluttering lazily on his back, very realistic looking.

 

Lance reacted the only way he knew how.

 

“ _ What the f--” _

 

“HEYHEYheyheyheyhey,” said Wing Dude, “No language. We don't do the language thing.”

 

Green Guy rolled his eyes. “He wouldn't be able to know that, Hunk, it's not that big of a deal.”

 

“Um, were you there when Keith called that creepy faery an A-word? Allura wouldn't change him back to vamp-form for, like weeks.  _ Weeks,  _ Pidge.”

 

Lance had never heard names like that before. But that was just an afterthought in his adrenaline pumped mind. He jumped in before Green Guy (Pidge?) could answer.

 

“I dunno what you want from me,” Lance gasped at them, “but I'm not gonna take this easy.”

 

Wing Dude (Hunk?) cocked his head at him. “Take what easy?”

 

“Whatever you want from me, you aren't gonna have it easy.” Lance squinted at the two. “Definitely not from some random cosplayers.”

 

It hit him like a truck. “Oh my gosh, you want me to model for you for some anime costume, don't you?  _ No  _ way. Ever. You will have to tie me down--”

 

“What is anime?” Hunk whispered loudly to Pidge.

 

“A human show, I think,” Pidge shrugged, “They dress up as the characters from the show sometimes.”

 

“Oooooh.”

 

Lance was starting to get more than creeped out. “Stop being so in character, you're just as human as I am.”

 

Pidge and Hunk looked at each other before breaking out into hysterical laughter. 

 

“Oh boy,” Pidge said, wiping tears from his face, “you really have  _ no idea,  _ do you!?”

 

Lance was now not only confused and in a considerable amount of dry pain, but he was a little peeved too. If these were kidnappers (he remembered being kidnapped well enough), they were not only the weirdest ones, but also the worst at explaining situations to their victims. If he was supposed to be scared, it wasn't working. It was just making him confused. “No, I don't,” Lance sniffed, “so it'd be awesome if you just explain to me what you want with me--”

 

“Truuuust me, you don't want us explaining everything,” Hunk said. “I mean, we  _ could,  _ but it'd be better if Allura or Shiro explained it. They're more…. Um….”

 

“Experienced,” Pidge finished Hunks sentence, the branches in his head bristling in nonexistent wind, “They've been here longer than us. They'll be able to answer you a whole lot more clearly.”

 

“About  _ what?”  _ Lance gave out, his head giving a warning throb.

 

“About why you're here, Screamy McScreamster,” Pidge smirked, “seriously, we can hear you. Do humans have a quiet mode?”

 

“I dunno, do  _ we  _ as  _ human beings  _ have quiet modes?”

 

“I think he's freaking out,” Hunk whispered loudly to Pidge again. “What do we do?”

 

Pidge ignored Hunk. “We just said, it'd be better if--”

 

“Pidge! There you are.”

 

Lance turned his torso a bit, trying to keep his head from exploding on his shoulders. There was a girl standing there in the doorway.

 

Oh.  _ Hello. _

 

She was gorgeous in every sense of the word, stark white hair and dark skin combined. Her lips were pressed into a perfect pout. Glitter lined the area under her eyes.

 

Lance blinked once, twice, before smiling at her. “Heeeey,” Lance said, “are those eyes stars, because you look out of this world.”

 

There was a gagging sound nearby. “Jeez,” Pidge groaned, “that was-- I don't know how to even  _ fathom  _ that. Just-- wow, never do that again.”

 

Lance slowly looked at Pidge and squinted.

 

The girl quirked an eyebrow, then leaned into her hip and crossed her arms. “Good. He understands then, that we are not on his planet anymore?”

 

What?

 

“What?” Lance said.

 

The girl stared. She opened her mouth to say something, but then decided against it. She then shook her head, and clicked her fingers.

 

Lance felt himself suddenly not lying down in a table. Nothing was underneath him. No hard surface. Did he want to look down? He didn't want to look down.

 

He looked down.

 

Lance promptly threw up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope this was good! I am always open to critique and comments.
> 
> Thank you so much for all the support and thank you again for reading!


	4. The Voltron Gems

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Altea was a vast network of sorcerers, warlocks, wizards,” Allura smiles, “and witches, such as myself. We were one of the most powerful inter-dimensional kingdoms of our time.”
> 
> Allura’s face fell as she continued to speak. “But Altea is gone. It was destroyed.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Here is Chapter 4, this is a whole lot of exposition through Allura talking, just a warning.   
> I hope you enjoy!

“My name is Allura,” the white haired girl introduced herself, smiling brighter than the stars and with sunshine in her tone, “and I am the Heiress to the Altean Society.”

Lance could only comprehend her name. He was still a bit shaken by the whole “I can lift you into the air thing with a snap of my fingers” trick that happened only ten minutes ago. And was still happening, he realized, looking down at the ground passing beneath his feet. Pretty Lady Allura had kept him up in the air until he finished puking back in the other room, and then had wagged her finger for him to follow. So here he was, being flown through the air. He had already checked for any and all invisible strings or wires or really strong fans that could have gotten him to float like that, but there was nothing. Maybe he was just going crazy, but some of this “we’re gonna use human in the third person” spiel may have more depth to it than he thought.

“Altea was a vast network of sorcerers, warlocks, wizards,” Allura smiles, “and witches, such as myself. We were one of the most powerful inter-dimensional kingdoms of our time.”

Allura’s face fell as she continued to speak. “But Altea is gone. It was destroyed.”

Lance, who had been slightly dazed and not fully paying attention, looked up at her with renewed interest, possibly concern, in his eyes. 

Allura didn’t turn around, but kept walking with Lance floating behind her. “My father was the Prime Warlock of Altea, the highest ranking you could have in the Society. A ruler, perhaps, but even more to us all. When we were attacked….”

Allura paused. 

“When the Galra demons attacked us,” she restarted, “they destroyed everything and killed millions, like they do to countless others in countless foreign dimensions. My father saved me and one of my familiars, Coran, by placing a special spell on us. We were frozen in time long after... the fall of the Altean Society.”

Lance felt a sharp tug at his chest. Hey, he may be a tough, amazingly talented football player, but he wasn’t made of stone. He wasn’t cold hearted. Allura’s voice sounded so sad all of a sudden, and she was talking about the end of what sounded like her home. Did anyone blame him for feeling bad?

“That sucks,” Lance said eloquently. 

“It does. But luckily, Shiro woke us from the spell. You’ll meet him later, along with Keith, whom I think you’ve met but haven’t really gotten around to talking.”

Allura found this last line very funny for some reason, because she started to laugh. Lance felt himself waver in midair, and even that itty bit of movement made him want to throw up. 

“Sorry, sorry,” Allura said. 

“What was so funny?”

“Meet Keith first and then I’ll tell you.”

The duo came to a set of massive doors, made of misted alabaster with glowing blue handles. Intricate designs covered the entire thing, top to bottom. To Lance, each design looked like a little kitten. Or a cat. 

Or a lion. 

“Shiro woke me by coming in here,” she remembers out loud, “he was searching for shelter, I believe, after running from the Galra, when he found this very room, where we were locked along with the Voltron gems.”

“Vol what?” Lance managed. He still felt a bit queasy, and every time he opened his mouth he felt like he was going to puke. Again. 

“The Voltron gems,” Allura said like Lance should know what they were. “Have you ever heard of them?”

Lance could only shake his head. 

Allura by now was facing him, a curious look on her face. She snapped her fingers, and Lance felt his body being released from the air. Rapidly. To the hard ground below. 

This was the second time he had hit his head. The only time he’d been hit in the head this many times had been last year’s championship game. Jesus. 

She helped him up so he was at a wobbly standing position and continued. “The Voltron gems are all that remains of the werewolf species.”

“Werewolves?” Lance questioned. 

“Yes,” Allura nodded. “Werewolves. They were very powerful, and the first of any of us to migrate to the mortal realm. They went to Earth, your planet. Their empire was glorious but short. They underestimated you humans, and were hunted to extinction by your kind.”

Lance remembered (as much as he could, anyway) his time in his freshman history class, when they had talked about mythical creatures in different legends. Werewolves were one of them. They had talked about a lot of things that day, but Lance definitely remembered the silver bullet his teacher brought in. The silver said to kill werewolves. 

“The werewolves were very smart,” Allura went on, “and probably knew about the impending Galra threat. So they created special gems, crafted by magic, to protect against demonic energies. They made the Voltron gems.”

Allura gestured to the doors. “The last werewolves, scared of being hunted by humans, gifted the gems to my father. They’ve been in Altean care ever since.”

“What makes ‘em so special?” Lance slurred, his stomach churning violently at even the simplest sentence. Allura didn’t seem to notice his distress, and kept plowing on. 

“They are gems capable of turning the wearer into an Earthen creature of amazing strength, ones the werewolves were fascinated with and thus created the Voltron gems in their image. Lions.”

Lance fought back the urge to laugh. Lions? Of all the dangerous Earth creatures? Have these people ever seen a shark before? Or an elephant? Seagulls? Seagulls were pretty aggressive. Or dinosaurs? Sure, dinosaurs were long extinct, but hey, if magic was real, anything could be possible. 

“The spirits of lions are trapped inside each gem, along with each lion’s personality and preferences. The wearers of the gems are called Paladins, and each Lion chooses it’s Paladin.” Allura gazed on the doors as if they held the secrets to everything. “The spirits usually have someone in mind each Paladin cycle. The only way we know who they want to be their wearer is by their glow.”

“Glow?” Lance asked. “These things glow?”

“Yes,” Allura said, “the closer they are to their Paladin. Which is how we knew where to find you, because one of the gems began to glow extremely brightly when we flew by Earth on happenstance, and the gems of the other Paladins on board tugged their wearers to your location.”

It took Lance a moment to really process what Allura had said. She had made it vague. But it wasn’t vague enough that it left him in the dark. He stared at her, jaw slowly dropping as the realization hit him like an indecisive brick to the face. Allura tried to hide her smirk, but failed, and that right there was the tipping point. 

“Me?” Lance shouted. “I’m a Pal-- Paladro-- Poladia whatever?”

“A Paladin?” Allura chuckled. “I believe you are. Let’s check, though, just to be sure.”

And with that, Allura pushed open the huge alabaster doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter, I plan on there being some more action, along with the physical introductions of Shiro and Coran. And Keith, of course!
> 
> I am always open to critique and comments. 
> 
> Thank you for all the support, and thank you again for reading!


	5. Angel Bite

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shiro made a wise decision to ignore the tone of sarcasm in his friend’s voice. “Are you avoiding my question?”
> 
> Keith crossed his arms and leaned into his hip. “What question?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoy!

“Someone is hungry.”

Keith slammed his fist against one of the walls and looked up. “Seriously, Shiro?”

Shiro shrugged. “You look hungry, that’s all.” He gave an accusatory glare. “When was the last time you’ve drank?”

Out of all the people here, Shiro was the most at ease with Keith’s… drinking habits. Necessary drinking habits. He was the only one who could ask Keith that question without looking visibly uncomfortable or unsure of how to ask. 

Keith slowly released his fist from the wall, where it had made a sizable dent. He shook his head, black hair getting into his eyes as he hastily brushed it away. In one deathly pale hand was his sword, which was red like his jacket and glowing with a small red shimmer. He closed his eyes and called it back to its place. The sword shimmered a bit before dissipating back into the dark red stone on his neck choker. 

“You’re getting good at that,” Shiro smiled as he spoke, “Allura is going to be happy.”

“Sure she will,” Keith rolled his eyes, “because she loves me so much.”

Shiro made a wise decision to ignore the tone of sarcasm in his friend’s voice. “Are you avoiding my question?”

Keith crossed his arms and leaned into his hip. “What question?”

“When was the last time you drank?” Shiro repeated, walking across the room to Keith’s side. Keith quickly made a beeline for the bench, where he plopped down and swiped his forehead with a towel. He dried off his hands as he grunted, “Why should I tell you?”

“Because I should know,” Shiro mused, sitting down next to him with all the ease and care of-- well, an angel. “Someone should know.”

“I’m not a baby, okay? I can take care of myself.” Keith threw the towel around his neck, letting it hang there. He leaned his forearms against his knees and decided that his boots were more interesting than Shiro was. 

“Okaaaay,” Shiro said, a smirk creeping up his features. He looked idly around the room, tapping his fingers against his own knee and smiling quietly to himself. Silence enveloped the two. Soon the only sounds was Shiro’s breathing. Keith’s could not be heard, though.   
“Shiro.”

“Yeah?”

“Stop that.”

“Stop what?”

“You’re doing the thing.”

“What thing?”

“The thing.”

“No idea what you’re talking about.”

“The thing you always do, every single time.”

“I’m just sitting here, Keith. I don’t know what I’m being accused of.”

Keith gave a growl of frustration and hung his head. “You’re awful.”

“You know what else is awful?”

“What?”

“Not feeding for two weeks.”

Keith’s head sprang up so quickly, if he were alive, he’d have whiplash. He stared at Shiro, who was now tying the pair of sneakers Coran had gotten him as a gift about a year ago. For his, “Becoming-a-Paladin anniversary,” which was ridiculous, but they all let Coran do it because it was sweet and kind of innocent in the face of the whole Galra thing. Also, Shiro loved Earthen anything, so he practically shrieked when he saw them. That didn't make an excuse for suddenly ignoring Keith though.

“How did you--” Keith choked out, face going more flushed than usual.

“I keep track,” Shiro shrugged, “because you clearly aren't.”

“I am, I just--” 

“Restraining yourself for ‘the better of everyone else’?”

Keith stared at his friend, eyes wide enough to bulge out of his head. He opened his mouth to say something, revealing the faint tips of fangs. Then he closed it. His eyes diverted away and studied the floor again.

“You need to drink, just like the rest of us eat. You were pale before, and now you're just getting paler.”

“Seriously,” Keith groaned, “I'm fine.”

“That's not the point. The point is that you aren't feeding like you should.”

“So?”

“Do you remember last time you went a while without drinking?”

Keith groaned and yanked the towel off his shoulders, throwing it away behind the bench. “Don't bring that up, please.”

“I think I have to.”

“No you don't.”

“Last time, you went a full month without feeding, and ended up almost sucking poor Hunk dry Keith. Dry. Do you know how much blood pixies produce, Keith? A lot. And you almost took it all because you physically lost the ability to think ‘no’. It’s what happens when a vampire starves.”

Keith didn't answer. He instead looked guiltily to the side.

Shiro had lost his smile and had replaced it with a concerned frown. “We don't want that happening again. Hunk makes you basically blood-everything now, you don't have an excuse.”

Shiro quirked an eyebrow at Keith, who didn't respond to him. 

After a few quiet minutes or so, Keith slowly turned his head and squinted really hard at his friend. “Anger doesn't help my restraint.” He turned back stared straight ahead at the training room wall on the other side of the room. “And I honestly don’t know if I’m talented enough to hold myself back if I’m that angry.”

“You can't chomp on my neck,” Shiro reminded him, “if you were able to, I would let you all the time. But I can't.”

“Because vampires are demon spawn, apparently,” Keith said with enough bitterness to kill a man, “and we can't have divine blood and I can't catch a break for some reason and so I'm here.”

Shiro ignored him and pushed on. “You know you're more dangerous than usual when you're hungry, right?” 

Keith loved Shiro, he really did, he was his best of friends and the closest to real family he’d ever met. He’d even go so far as to call him a brother to him. But at times like these, where he nagged on and on, he wanted to rip Shiro’s neck out to get him to at least stop talking…

Not the right thought to think. His fangs popped out without warning, reacting to his thoughts about tearing necks open. Everything became more vivid, more bright around him. The beginning symptoms of bloodlust. He blinked a few times, and realized he was tasting his own blood on his tongue from where his fangs had poked through and pricked his bottom lip by accident. Not thinking, he licked his lips. Even his own blood tasted great at this point. If he just lived off himself, would that be so bad? Just a bit, every minute or so. Would that be so bad? No one would get hurt from it. Except him. Just a bit. He raised his wrist to his mouth in a daze, suddenly hyper aware of the way his pale skin looked and the way a singular vein wove its way through his body below. There was blood there. Thick, salty blood. A taste is ok? Right? He already had a taste, sure, but could another really hurt? No one would get hurt if he bit himself.

Keith was then slapped.

He stumbled off the bench and fell to his knees, the hit was so hard and unexpected. He blinked, and it took a while for him to realize that his cheek stung. He rose his hand to it, the skin there already feeling raw. The floor was cold beneath him, cold even for his freezing body temperature. And he just wanted to curl up into it now and never leave that position, because he knew what would be waiting for him if he looked up.

Against his better judgement, Keith looked up.

Shiro was standing now, one arm raised, the one that slapped him. The other, glowing purple from his Galra implant, was clenched into a fist at his side. It wasn't his stance that got Keith though. It was his face.

His eyes were large with tiny irises in them. His lips were parted to let in heavy breaths and he was almost completely red. The fading scar across his face looked darker against his skin now. And his golden aura, his body halo, was glowing around him fiercer than before.

And he looked scared and mad all at the same time. 

Angry angels were scary. Scared angels were worse. So logically, angry scared angels weren’t good probably. 

“Keith,” Shiro said, and his voice was so broken and disbelieving, Keith wanted to run and never look back.

“Keith,” Shiro repeated, “don't you ever do that again.”

Keith was picked up by his shirt collar, and now he felt scared, because he was half sure that Shiro was going to rip him to pieces with the way his jaw had set. And up close, he could see small rings of fire in his irises-- tell tale signs of anger in an angel. 

“Say it,” he said, “say you won't.”

“Shiro--”

“Say it.”

Keith looked Shiro right in the eyes, and have him the most defiant look he could give him, even though he was almost shaking. He told him the truth. “I have to do what I have to do to protect you all.”

“This isn't protecting at this point. You have to feed, and you can't feed on yourself because then you’d die, you know that, vampires cannot. Bite. Themselves. Or else they die. I wish I could give you an answer as to why that happens, because I know you, and I know you’d want to know why you couldn’t. But there is no answer. Vampires just die if they feed from other vampires, or themselves. What you just tried to pull was… it… if you think that saving us is more important than you living, and being a Paladin of Voltron and helping save millions of lives in exchange for maybe a teaspoon of blood for just a meal a day, then that’s your opinion. But I’m still not going to let you die.”

Shiro must have seen the look of pure fear in Keith's eyes because his gaze softened in the span of three seconds. His irises and aura died down to flickers, his grip slackened on his shirt collar. He didn't drop Keith to the cold floor like Keith thought he would. Instead, he eased him back into the bench.

“I'll go ask Hunk to make you something good,” Shiro said with more care, barely at a whisper, and patted Keith on his shoulder. “Stay here, and don't move.”

Keith stared, stunned, as Shiro stalked off. But he hardly go to the door before it swung open.

Allura walked in staring straight ahead, smiling at Shiro and sparing Keith maybe half a glance. Behind her was a thin boy wearing a sweatshirt and jeans, with spotless sneakers. He looked a bit in awe at the room, until his gaze met Keith's.

The guy's eyes were ocean blue, Keith noticed.

Keith had very dark navy eyes, the guy noticed, and they flashed in nonexistent light.

Keith stared at Lance.

Lance stared at Keith.

“You!” Lance shrieked, “you're the asshole who dropped me on the pavement!”

Keith groaned as his stomach grumbled.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ah, one of my personal favorites: the "I'm a vampire but I don't want to bite anyone or hurt anyone so I'm not going to at the cost of my own health" tropes. Now applied to a Keith at an AU near you. 
> 
> That aside, gotta love that angst. I hope I write them well? I've already started Chapter 6, so hopefully it will be out sooner than expected. Hopefully. 
> 
> Feel free to leave critique and/or comments! 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, I hope you enjoyed!


	6. Purpose

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “What can we do?” He whispered. Changed his approach. “What can I do?”
> 
> “Be a Paladin!” Coran chirped, “which you are excelling at currently.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Aha, what are update schedules?  
> I'm sorry this took so long, and yeah, it is kind of rushed. More action is (hopefully lol) on the way! 
> 
> Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy!
> 
> (Also, yay for Season 3, everyone!!! YAY!!!)

“You dropped me on the freaking parking lot ground, which is solid rock basically! You are really careless about your kidnapping victims, and I think you need an attitude readjustment.”

 

“It wasn't a kidnapping.”

 

“Yes it was!”

 

“It was necessary to our mission to get you onto the vessel.”

 

“Wasn't really, you guys just gave me a shiny blue gem bracelet and leave it at that?”

 

“Actually,” Allura cut through the two boys bickering, “that is why we are all here.”

 

Lance and Keith stopped fighting mid breath at her voice. They only traded glares before slouching down in their seats.

 

Around them were the other Paladins, as Lance soon found out. Hunk and Pidge were not just passengers in Allura’s cross-dimensional pocket ship (they call the ship “the vessel” but it was a ship), believe it or not. They were Paladins too. Lance met Mr. Frosted Tips last, who he learned was named Shiro, and Lance thought he was another human until he started spontaneously glowing.

 

That ended with Lance totally not screaming.

 

And now all five of the Paladins were sitting uncomfortably with each other and staring at the young witch in the middle of the room, and the guy with the mustache that followed her.

 

“I'm Coran,” he excitedly introduced himself to Lance, shaking his hand with way too much enthusiasm. “I'm Allura’s familiar, I’ve been traveling with you all on this journey and I'm ecstatic to finally meet the wearer of the Blue Lion! You will make a great Blue Paladin, you know.”

 

“Uh,” Lance stuttered out, thinking back to what he knew about witches and familiars, “aren't familiars, like….”

 

“Animals? Yep! But Allura helps me change to a human form so I can help more. Not doing much as a kitten on the floor, huh?” Coran found himself hysterical and laughed. “Anyways, if you need anything, I'm the one to call. Allura may be able to make things levitate, but she cannot scrub down a floor to a shine!”

 

“Oooh, kill ‘em,” Pidge laughed, trading a fist bump with Hunk.

 

“That would be the goal, yes,” Allura nodded, gazing off into her own world.

 

Lance stared at her weirdly. “Kill you?”

 

She seemed to realize Lance was still actually in the room and laughed. “Not me, no. The Galra demons.”

 

Lance cocked his head as the other Paladins fell silent. He'd heard the word Galra before, but it hasn't exactly clicked with him. Not fully. And what did “demon” mean? “You mentioned those guys before, didn't you. Can we do a quick, little, short recap?”

 

Keith murmured, “Aren't you a great listener,” under his breath. 

 

“Aren't you a good person at shutting up,” Lance hissed back.

 

“Aren't you great at comebacks.”

 

“Aren't you a b--”

 

“Alright then,” Allura clapped her hands and motioned for Coran. “Would you please turn on the projection? Thank you.”

 

Coran obliged with a smile, and pressed a few buttons before slamming his palm on a big blue one. Lance jumped as around them, the walls almost came to life.

 

Holographic images sprung up on cue. Little circles, stars, and squares darted around. Some eventually stopped. Others kept moving.

 

“This,” Allura smiled at Lance’s agape face, “is our interface. It's fueled by magical energy, stored in gems gifted to us by Balmeran spirits. That's also what fuels the rest of the vessel.”

 

They watched a square floating by suddenly stop and turn purple.

 

“What--” Lance started, but stopped when Shiro whispered a name like he was whispering nuclear codes.

 

“Galra.”

 

“Yes,” Allura nodded, a tinge of hatred in her voice. “Anything that turns purple represents vessels, dimensions, planetary hotspots that the Galra demons have taken.” Allura grimaced. “Along with the people in them.”

 

Lance stared at the blue shimmers. Each one stood for a different source of life. And every couple seconds or so, something turned purple and faded off the interface. He fidgeted in his seat. He tried not to notice Pidge staring into his soul with the emerald eyes that he was half sure we're not real. And at this point he would be surprised if they weren't, there was a lot of weird things going around here.

 

“That's… awful,” Lance finally spoke into the silence that had fallen. He felt like he was talking at a funeral, it had gotten so somber at the mention of the Galra.

 

Allura nodded. “It is. That's why you're here. The power of the Voltron Lions is so powerful, it can battle back the Galra’s demon energy. That's why the Altean Society lasted so long, because Voltron protected them, along with allies. Like angels.”

 

She glanced at Coran, who nodded and smiled at her, like she needed reassurance about what she was talking about. She also spared a glance at Shiro at the word, “angels.”

 

“Our mission for all these years has been to stop the Galra from taking over the entire expanse of the immortal and mortal realms. They've been keeping mostly confined to the immortal for now, but we have no idea when they will break into the mortal.”

 

“To them, conquering the mortal realms will be easy!” Coran added with a smile, “so the Galra are keeping their priorities on the harder magical hotspots to conquer.”

 

“Magical hotspots?”

 

Pidge and Hunk exchanged a look. Shiro drummed his fingers against his knee. Keith looked as agitated with Lance as he had before.

 

“Yes,” Coran answered Lance, “magical hotspots.”

 

“And the mortal realm, that's a magical hotspot?”

 

“ _ Has  _ hotspots, yes. Different hotspots are contained in different areas, though.”

 

“Is…”

 

Lance swallowed, afraid for the answer of what was probably true. “Is Earth…?”

 

The defeating silence answered for him.

 

Lance was on his feet in seconds. “So let me get this straight. Earth is a magical all-you-can-eat buffet for these Galra dudes, and they want to destroy it?”

 

“Drain it,” Allura corrected, “of its power. Hotspots have lots of magical energy called quintessence that the Galra convert into power for their own warlocks and such. They suck the very life energy from the hotspot. It kills everything in it.”

 

“Planets can be hotspots?”

 

“Anything can be. Places. Things.” Allura’s entire body tensed with the thought. “Even living beings.”

 

“It's one of the few ways an immortal can be ‘killed’,” Coran grimaced himself. “It renders them useless, practically lifeless!”

 

“In the mortal realm, losing quintessence could be fatal, more so than it already is to the immortal realm,” Allura reached out to poke at a glowing orb that was slowly turning purple. It wobbled with her touch. “Which is why we need to stop it now rather than later.”

 

“With the Blue Paladin now restored, it should be easier!” Coran lit up.

 

Around Lance, the other Paladins had stayed silent. Shiro was still has a statue. Pidge’s head branches had grown to curl more protectively around his head. Hunk’s wings had gone down. Keith’s eyes had dimmed from flashing angry red to the dull navy Lance had seen before. And Lance?

 

Well, Lance was confused. Shaken. A mixture of both?

 

“What can we do?” He whispered. Changed his approach. “What can  _ I  _ do?”

 

“Be a Paladin!” Coran chirped, “which you are excelling at currently.”

 

“No.”

 

Everyone turned to Shiro, who Lance decided was definitely the unspoken leader. Lance also began to gawk as a golden aura began to spread and glow around Shiro’s body, bright a steady. The outline of white fluffy wings began to take shape too, slowly materializing. 

 

“We need to be Paladins,” he spoke, “and we need to work as a team to take down the Galra threat. Now that Lance is here as the Blue Paladin,” he spared a small grin at the human, “we can start really training to become Voltron. Combined. The ultimate power.”

 

“Overwhelmed” was a bit of an understatement for Lance. Of course, until a screeching began to play.

 

Allura jolted, Coran almost fell over. Shiro was up in seconds and practically flying towards the door, his wings dissolving as quickly as they had appeared. Keith wasn't too far behind. Pidge followed. Hunk grabbed Lance and tugged him forward.

 

“What was that?” Lance asked.

 

“Banshee call,” Hunk said, “means not good stuff.”

 

“Not good stuff,” Lance repeated. “Good to know.”

 

Hunk shrugged and grinned as they ran.

 

They ended up in a cavernous room with a million glass orbs showing different landscapes and castle-like buildings. The other Paladins surrounded a glass orb in the middle. Shiro was frowning.

 

“Where'd it come from?” Hunk asked breathlessly.

 

Shiro looked at Lance with concern and sympathy before answering.

 

“Earth.”

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I love how Lance is totally just going with this, ha. 
> 
> Feel free to leave critique or comments!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, have an awesome day!!


	7. Blu

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lance has screamed a lot in the past 24 hours than he has in four years. So why not scream again?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AH, this is super short, but I wanted to at least update something tonight. Now that exams are almost completely over, I should be able to start really working on this. Sorry for the shortness, but I do hope you enjoy!
> 
> Have some cute Hunk and Lance filler. 
> 
> Thank you so much for reading!

Lance was a football player and still he had never been moved so fast in his life. 

 

“Make a go for it,” Shiro said, jumping into a seat behind Allura. “This is an interdimensional vessel, so we should make it to the mortal realm pretty quickly.”

 

Lance did not process that Shiro was talking to him until he felt Keith whack his arm. “Answer him,” he growled. Lance did not like the red in his eyes or the way that he kept on looking down at Lance’s collarbone. 

 

Lance watched Coran bring out large books from a nearby cupboard and set them out in front of Allura, who frantically flipped through them. 

 

Lance was a bit worried. 

 

“What’s going on?” He questioned. 

 

_ You planet is in danger, Paladin.  _

 

Lance has screamed a lot in the past 24 hours than he has in four years. So why not scream again?

 

“Who was that?” He shrieked as the other Paladins and Allura and Coran bustled around him. 

 

Only Hunk managed to stop and study him a bit before warmly smiling. His wings gave a flutter as he spoke. “Did something speak in your head?”

 

“ _ Yes? _ Does that normal happen to people who aren’t human?”

 

“That’s your Lion, in your head. Yeah, I had that same reaction when Yellow popped in here.” He knocked his fist against his head. Lance noticed that the Yellow Lion had adjusted its gemstone onto a headband wrapped around his forehead. The gem twinkled in the center when Hunk mentioned Yellow. 

 

Lance’s eyes flickered down to the gem that had arranged itself as a pendant on a chain around his neck. It would have been some cool bling on in the mortal realm, but here, it was apparently teh spirit of a deceased lion that a bunch of hairy men made and it was one of the most powerful things in the entire span of realms. 

 

So not as blingy. 

 

“Do they… like, stay in there? In your head?” Lance asked. 

 

_ I do, Paladin.  _

 

“By the look on your face,” Hunk snickered, “I think Blue answered for you.”

 

“Hunk,” Pidge yelled, “come help me stabalize the wands.”

 

“Whoop! Gotta go. Hey,” Hunk’s wings brushed Lance’s shoulders, “you are kinda new, so like, hang a bit with Blue? Get to know each other? If this is really an emergency….” Hunk’s smile twitched. “It’d be good to have your Lion on your side. Trust me, one pixie to one human.”

 

Lance felt warm as he watched Hunk flit off to Pidge. It was nice to have someone take a moment to explain this all to him. Allura did ok with that, but let’s be real, it’s not the same when it’s guy to guy. 

 

_ Then I hope we do not have any quarrels, Paladin.  _

 

It was going to take some time to get used to the voice in his head. While no one payed attention to him, why not start now?

 

“Um,” Lance said aloud. 

 

_ You do not need to speak our conversation aloud. I can communicate with just your thoughts alone.  _

 

Oh. Well, that made things more convenient?

 

_ Yes, they do.  _

 

So, these lions were supposed to turn the owners into were-cats, basically?

 

_ Correct.  _

 

How did you even do that?

 

_ You will know when the time comes.  _

 

Fantastic. Lance looked around for the cameras, because this what a cliche straight out of the bad fantasy flicks that try to be Harry Potter but aren’t. “When the time comes”? When will that be?

 

Lance didn’t have much time, it turns out because a minute later Hunk was tugging him away and maneuvering him to stand in what weirdly resembled a pentagram. 

 

“Did you just eat?” Hunk whispered.

 

“No?” Lance responded. 

 

“Good.”

 

He watched Allura begin to whisper something above the huge book in front of her. Right around there is where Lance realized he was going into this with very little information. 

 

“Um--”

 

_ You will know what to do, Paladin.  _

 

Lance couldn’t even think out a retort before his world rippled in front of him and he was gone. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I do have ideas for where to go next, but any suggestions you have would be of course considered. Feel free to tell me or comment or critique, its all super appreciated.
> 
> And thanks to y'all for all the support! You all are amazing.   
> Thank you for reading, and have a great day!


	8. Open Your Eyes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> “Give us a good old Earthen tour, right?” Hunk added and nudged Pidge. The team watched Pidge stumble from the nudging, and watched him bump into a tree. Lance’s eyes widened as the tree seemed to engulf half the nymph’s body. Pidge’s entire right half wiggled trying to get free.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading whatever this has turned into, I hope you enjoy!

Keith was having a problem. 

 

He didn’t like the human. 

 

Ok, he was lying, that wasn’t the problem. 

 

The problem was that his stomach and fangs liked the human.

 

A lot.

 

So much, in fact, that it was taking up a good portion of his concentration to keep his fangs down, keep his stomach from growling (he was failing at that), and trying to not pounce on the new Blue Paladin and drain him clean--

 

Yeah, bad idea. Let’s tuck those thoughts far away. 

 

Allura’s portal worked just fine, and the team reopened their eyes on a grassy field. Lance blinked and smiled. He looked around, trying to think about the possibilities of where they were. The Savannah? The Plains? Some random European farmland?

 

He paused when he saw the buildings up ahead. His smile dimmed. 

 

“Uh guys,” he turned to the other Paladins. “Why are we back in my hometown?”

 

“This is where the banshee called,” Shiro said as he stepped up to Lance’s side. “The spell took us right where we have to be.”

 

“If this is really your hometown,” Pidge piped up, “then that’s really good, you’ll know the place.”

 

“Give us a good old Earthen tour, right?” Hunk added and nudged Pidge. The team watched Pidge stumble from the nudging, and watched him bump into a tree. Lance’s eyes widened as the tree seemed to engulf half the nymph’s body. Pidge’s entire right half wiggled trying to get free. 

 

“I don’t wanna  _ bond  _ right now, get off of me, you jerk!” Pidge yelled and hit the tree twice with his palm. The trunk eventually let go. Pidge dropped to the ground and landed on his butt. 

 

“Does that usually happen?” Lance whispered as he leaned over to Shiro. “I mean like, with other, not-mortal-dimension or whatever plants?”

 

“Yeah,” Shiro nods, “but trees are everywhere. They are just a few cross-dimensional things that stay the same everywhere.”

 

Lance blanked. “Of all the things that stay the same, its  _ trees?” _

 

Shiro nodded and said, “Yeah. Pidge is always having trouble with these things. Nymphs usually bond with trees to help them grow, and the tree in return offers protection.” Shiro laughs a little under his breath as Keith and Hunk try to help Pidge get up, Pidge slapped them away every time and tried to stand up alone. He kept tripping. 

 

“I think the trees just naturally like her though,” Shiro mentioned as he stepped forward a bit to survey the land. 

 

Lance stared at him. 

 

“Who’s ‘she’?”

 

Shiro turned to him. “She?”

 

“Yeah, you said, ‘they just naturally like  _ her’.  _ Who’s the her?”

 

Shiro was looking at Lance like he had a couple more heads than usual. “Pidge.”

 

Lance’s jaw dropped. “Pidge is a  _ she?” _

 

There was silence before Pidge burst out into giggles. 

 

~~

 

“You really thought I was a boy?” Pidge laughed, “I mean, I know I’m not curvy, but like--”

 

“Can we drop it, please?” Lance huffed and crossed his arms. “I just… I just didn’t think it through, ok? Maybe Earth girls just look different than nymph girls.”

 

Lance’s skin was flushed from embarrassment. Keith licked his lips absent-mindedly as he watched the human’s cheeks go red. 

 

Pidge quirked a branch eyebrow at Lance. “What makes me different than a mortal girl?”

 

Lance paused and realized he had screwed up. “Um…”

 

“Guys,” Shiro commanded their attention again, “let’s stay focused. The banshee calling point should be close to here.”

 

The group only trekked a little further before Lance recognized their surroundings. “Guys, we’re in the community park,” he nodded to himself, “I know the neighborhood a little up ahead!”

 

“That’s convenient, because a little up ahead is where the banshee called,” Shiro told them as he turned his head to face them at a side angle. The angel kept walking as he continued, “so maybe you know who might be in trouble.”

 

“That’s helpful,” Pidge added, “because then they won’t flip on us, because they’ll know you. You do not want to know how many species we’ve tried to save and they won’t let us help because I’m a stranger. And a nymph.”

 

“Nymphists,” Hunk shook his head. “Such jerks.”

 

“Actually, when I think about it,” Lance squinted, “I think this should be near Zack’s house.”

 

“Zack?” Shiro asked. 

 

Lance thought about it. The familiar large houses coming up looked like the rich-people neighborhood where Zack lived. And also where--

 

Wait. 

 

“Guys, how long were we off Earth for?”

 

“What?” Hunk gave him a perplexed expression. 

 

“How. Long. Were. We. Not. On. Earth?”

 

“Like, how long were we back in the limbo space between immortal and mortal realms?” Pidge smirked. “Because for us it was like two days, but here it was more like… a few hours, tops.”

 

“Did you do that calculation in your head?” Keith asked. 

 

“Maybe,” Pidge replied. 

 

“How? The equation for immortal to mortal time relations is like, a page long, isn’t it?”

 

“Page in a half, dumb dumb, and yeah, I memorized it back home. Y’know, we had time, waiting for the Galra to suck out our life forces like the sitting ducks we were.”

 

“Guys, focus,” Shiro reprimanded, “Lance, where are you going with this?”

 

“This is where I was  _ supposed  _ to go before you guys kidnapped me!” Lance threw his arms out in exasperation. “But noooo, I had to get nabbed by Mr. Emo Mullet over there.”

 

“Hey,” Keith grit out, but stopped when even speaking to Lance made his stomach lurch. He was surely paler than a vampire should be now. Soon his hunger would get even harder to hide. And being in a human neighborhood, surrounded by living meat sacks with all the blood inside their veins….

 

If he didn’t control himself, he’d be like a kid going crazy on red Gushers, with the Gushers being living things. 

 

Keith made a mental note to try and work on the outskirts of this mission. Just this one. If he couldn’t control his thirst… he didn’t want to hurt more people than he needed to. 

 

Of course, no one knew about Keith’s inner turmoil, and simply continued to talk. 

 

“Right now should be Zack’s party,” Lance gasped, “guuuys, we should go to the party!”

 

The team stopped at the gate that fenced off the neighborhood. Shiro whipped around, his golden aura blazing a bit as he said, “No.”

 

Lance’s smile drooped. “Why?”

 

“Because we need to find out what that banshee called for,” Shiro said, “not to go to a party.”

“But--” Lance whined, before he heard something in his head. 

 

_ Trust your instincts, Paladin.  _

 

“AHA, see?”

 

“I think we already broke the Blue Paladin.”

 

“No, Hunk! My Lion just told me to trust my instincts! So my instincts say, let’s party.”

 

“Lance, no,” Shiro squinted at him. 

 

“Lance, yes,” Lance ‘s grin spanned ear to ear.

 

“Guys,” Pidge cut in as she looked through the fence. Lance blinked as the branches on her head started to stretch, growing and expanding and curling around each other. They dipped down to Pidge’s eyes, covering her green irises for just a second before opening little holes where her eyes were. Leaves grew around the holes’s edges. Pidge then gripped the new branches like binoculars. 

 

To say Lance was in a little bit of awe would be an understatement. 

 

“Guys,” Pidge repeated, “look.”

 

The team peered around Pidge, though Keith took a precaution to stay away from Lance and instead took Shiro’s other side. They watched as a few kids in high school football jackets and cheerleader uniforms walked down the sidewalk. The girls were basically all blonde, the guys basically all brunettes. Some of the guys were carrying coolers. 

 

Leading them all was a tall figure in a purple T-shirt and a red sweatshirt slung off his shoulders and about to fall off at any second. Lance recognized him immediately. 

 

“That’s Zack,” Lance hissed, “he’s throwing the party. Guys, he is, so cool. He’s the main man at my school, the best quarterback I’ve ever seen, AND, oh guys get this, he is such a playeeeer, ladies at his feet, you would not  _ believe--” _

 

“Lance,” Shiro whispered. “Lance, focus.”

 

_ “ _ Focus? I am focusing, I’m telling you--”

 

_ Focus, young one. See beyond the layers. Rethink what you know.  _

 

What?

 

Lance was about to retort, but then he saw a flicker near Zack’s face. Just a flicker. A flicker of light, bright purple. Lance narrowed his eyes as the team tracked the group of high schoolers, who were now making their way up the hill of the neighborhood. Another flash, again near Zack’s face. What was….

 

Lance gave in to curiosity and tried his best to focus. His football-sports-altered mind may have been used to skirting by with just-good-enough grades in class, and that may have made him seem stupid, but Lance had a secret. And that was that he liked to notice things. And he was good at it. His organizational habits were fueled a bit by that, since if something was off in any setting, he was the first to notice. 

 

And when he focused on that spark, he began to notice. 

 

The gem pendant on Lance’s neck glowed a bright blue as the layers of the illusion fell away. He saw Zack’s peachy humanoid skin peel away to reveal purple, and he saw his clothes shrivel away to reveal what to Lance looked like dystopian soldier armour. Zack’s face contorted and stretched and changed until it was hardly recognizable. His eyes turned yellow and his hair and ears converged, peaking up into what could pass as puppy ears. His casual grin turned into a snarl, and his teeth sprouted fangs and canines that were visible from far away. 

 

He looked less likely to kill on the field and more likely to just kill in general. 

 

Lance gasped as the final layers peeled away. He glanced at the other Paladins, none of whom looked spooked. Even with his focus elsewhere, Zack no longer looked like Zack, and a chill of fear had decided to take up permanent residence in Lance’s spine. 

 

Shiro must have realized that Lance saw past the illusion, because his jaw set and he nodded. “You see it?”

 

Lance could only nod back, he was so shocked. 

 

“That’s one of the ultra bad ones, though,” Hunk whimpered. “He’s a powerful one.”

 

“Top rank Galra demon,” Keith added, “If he’s here, there’s something big at stake.”

 

“Pft, stake, says the vampire,” Hunk giggled. Keith promptly reached over and punched him in the shoulder.

 

“Who is he?” Lance managed to speak. 

 

Pidge turned, the branch binoculars receding back into the nymph’s skin. She whispered the name. 

 

“His name is Sendak.”

 

Lance processed. “Sendak?” He repeated, feeling the word on his tongue. Then it hit him. 

 

“Sendak. Zack. Sendak. Zack.” Lance’s pupils grew and sparkled. “ _ Sendzack.” _

 

The entire team stared at Lance. 

 

Pidge groaned. 

 

Shiro shook his head with a gentle smile on his lips. “Let’s go see what Sendzack is up to then.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I made this chapter a bit longer to make up for not adding to this in a while, sorry about that! Also, thank you so much for the amazing response?? I'm so flattered??? You are wonderful people, thank you for your kind words and support!
> 
> I will be taking a break from the internet for a little bit, just about a month, so this will be the last update from me for a little bit. 
> 
> Feel free to critique/comment!
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, have a great day!


	9. Sendzack

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> His words smelled like heaven. Sweet, blood filled heaven. Keith couldn’t find it in him to answer again. He felt like if his mouth opened one more time, his fangs would come out and he wouldn’t be able to pop them back in. And then he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to control himself. 
> 
> Lance, meanwhile, remained completely oblivious, and just decided that Keith was a genuine jerk that had just ignored him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Now back to your regularly scheduled supernatural dorks.

The team traced Sendak and the oblivious teens to the gigantic mansion on the hill. Sendak was still grinning when he let the teens in and shut the door behind them all. 

 

“Locked,” Keith muttered. 

 

“How do you know that?” Lance hissed at him, “all he did was shut the door.”

 

Keith winced when Lance answered him. Now, even hearing the human  _ talk _ made his stomach lurch and his fangs ache to come out. It took all his strength to keep himself from going blood-crazy. It took even more to speak again. “Vampires have better hearing than humans, idiot.”

 

Lance frowned. “I’m not an idiot.”

 

His words smelled like heaven. Sweet, blood filled heaven. Keith couldn’t find it in him to answer again. He felt like if his mouth opened one more time, his fangs would come out and he wouldn’t be able to pop them back in. And then he wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to control himself. 

 

Lance, meanwhile, remained completely oblivious, and just decided that Keith was a genuine jerk that had just ignored him. 

 

“How do we get in now?” Hunk asked, “I don’t think a top ranking demon dude is just gonna let Paladins into his shindig.”

 

“We could sneak in through the windows?” Pidge scratched a budding branch on her head, “I could coax a tree into getting you guys up to the top floor.”

 

“I can fly too,” Hunk leaped in, “I can fly someone up to a window, too.”

 

Shiro looked thoughtfully at the windows of the house. “Even if we got in through the windows, it’s gonna be hard to get around without being spotted. Demons aren’t stupid. They’d recognize us, even with a magic glamour on.”

 

“So if we weren’t recognized, we’d get around easily!” Lance said, chest puffed up. “Bam, mission accomplished.”

 

“So we need disguises,” Pidge rolled her eyes, “disguises that aren’t glamours.”

 

“That’ll be easy, we’ll just find a Party City or something and buy fake mustaches or something. Not hard,” Lance reassured the others.

 

The others just kind of… looked at him.

 

“There’s an entire city here? For  _ parties?”  _ Pidge cocked her head.

 

Hunk’s bright yellow eyes lit up even more at the idea. “Does everyone there just eat party food?”

 

“What makes something a party food?” Keith thought aloud, not even addressing the other Paladins, just staring at his feet as if the question was hitting him hard.

 

Lance groaned and slapped his own face in exasperation. “No, Party City is a shop where---”

 

“We’re getting off topic, guys,” Shiro glanced from his teammates to the house, “wearing physical disguises like a costume wouldn’t work for all of us. Pidge has no way to hide her skin color, and Hunk has no way to properly tie down his wings without causing serious damage to them.”

 

Pidge stole a glance at her green hand. Hunk fluttered his wings carefully, like he was scared they’d shred to bits right there. 

 

“I can’t go in either, costume or no,” Shiro went on, his shoulders tense and his brow knitted from thinking, “since they’d sense angelic energy right away. But….”

 

Shiro, Hunk, and Pidge all looked at Lance and Keith.

 

~

 

“Oh, for crying out  _ loud,” _ Keith gave out with an almost pained breath.

 

“If you two could get in, we’d have a better way of seeing what exactly Sendak--”

 

“Sendzack,” Lance happily corrected, adrenaline and excitement pumping through him. 

 

Shiro didn’t find it as funny the second time around, but still played along, maybe to just amuse the new human, “-- _ Sendzack _ is up to here. Once we know that, we’ll know a better way to approach this instead of barging in through the window.”

 

Lance rubbed a sore spot on his neck, one that had popped up after Allura had dropped him on the floor not too long ago. He felt like he did before a big game: excited, but nervous. “But, like… how will we get that info to you?”

 

Shiro smiled and tapped the black band tied so securely around his arm Lance was pretty sure it was cutting off circulation. In the center of it was a black gemstone. The Black Lion’s gem. “Use these,” Shiro said, “they’ll help us communicate.”

 

“But we might be detected if we do use the Voltron gems,” Pidge butted in, “so don’t use it until you reeaaaaally really have to.” Lance took that moment to realize that on the side of Pidge’s glasses, the Green Lion’s gemstone shone. It looked like the gem had sprouted little roots that had hooked onto Pidge’s glasses. 

 

Not like  _ that _ was biased towards a  _ tree _ nymph. Lance silently hoped that his pendant would grow extra limbs or something and help him multitask on an essay at some point. 

 

“Do you both understand all that?” Shiro asked the two. 

 

Lance quickly nodded, tearing his eyes away from Pidge. “Yep. Go in, see what demon is up to, tattle to you all, beat some demons around, solve the problem, get cute fairy chics swarming for an autograph.” Lance grinned and shot finger guns at his teammates. “Sounds like a plan.”

 

Pidge rolled her eyes at Lance while Hunk gave an encouraging thumbs up, even though he was sweating bullets. 

 

Shiro nodded at Lance, choosing to again ignore the Blue Paladin’s almost childlike confidence and turned his attention to the vampire. “Keith?”

 

Keith felt dread now pooling into his stomach right next to the biting hunger. He had two options here. He could either remind Shiro of his...  _ issue _ , which would only grow into more of a problem around blood-filled humans, and opt out of the mission. Or, he could take the mission and go with Lance, who had quickly gained the title of Most Annoying Paladin in his book. While he’d be risking lives by going, he also knew from the short time they’d spent together that Lance was stupid, this was his first real mission, and the trust in Shiro’s stare told him that Shiro expected him to guide the human through this. He was counting on him. 

 

Counting on him to get the human through this alive. And unbitten. 

 

His own stupid needs or Shiro’s trust? It wasn’t even a choice. 

 

Keith nodded. “Got it.”

 

Shiro gave him a reassuring smile. “Good. Once you guys get inside, remember your gems. Trust the Lions to help you.”

 

Pidge spread her hands out on the fence dividing them from the house. Lance watched in amazement as branches sprouted from her fingers, spindling up and up and up until the tips reached the tops of the fence. 

 

“Go ahead and climb,” she told the two, “and good luck.”

 

“Be careful! Please,” Hunk rushed to say as Lance leaped for the branches, “please. I, um. I don’t wanna deal with a vampire body. Or a human one. Especially because I don’t know how to deal with a human one.”

 

Lance twisted his head around to shoot Hunk a wink, “It’s ok. Human bodies take care of themselves when they croak. They poof into dust exactly ten minutes post mortem and then turn into giant masses of gas that float around the world. That’s why we have our clouds.”

 

Hunk looked spellbound.

 

“Whoa,” he whispered, daring to look up at the clouds above them now.

 

Shiro shook his head in a silent laugh as he watched the human and the vampire continue to scale the branches until they disappeared over the fence. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AAH, it's good to be back! 
> 
> Hope you had a good month! I'm back from my break and I'm itching to write more. I've got a lot of ideas stored up that I can't wait to share, but of course if you have suggestions, please suggest them!! I live to serve~!
> 
> Feel free to critique/comment!
> 
> And of course, I hope you enjoyed and that you have a great day!


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